The living room PC belongs to my brother, and he likes to use Windows. Otherwise my house would be Completley Windows free. Though i think when the Steambox is released, his old Windows PC is going to have an accident.

The living room PC belongs to my brother, and he likes to use Windows. Otherwise my house would be Completley Windows free. Though i think when the Steambox is released, his old Windows PC is going to have an accident.

I'm thinking about making a headless Linux box, running Windows Steam in Wine. I don't buy any Windows only games anymore, so I don't mind the tweaking it would take to make this work. This is all providing streaming works from Steam in Wine, which we don't know yet...

If be honestly, I don't understand some details about steamboxes... In one hand, yeap, streaming, low latency, direct input (gamepad) and so on, but why I should to buy or build enough pricey device for that?I mean, the price about $250 it's minimum to build device which will be capable to stream games, play videos and so on in small case.

If you are happy playing at your PC now, or if you you are a big fan of either XBox or PS then Steam Machines won't be of much interest to you.

Steam Machines might interest you if something like the following is true:You like playing on your couch in front of your TV (instead of at your desk) - or if your are concerned about the ever more restrictive conditions coming from MS and Sony (I pretty much assume that Nintendo is not surviving the current console war), then Steam Machines are an alternative.The streaming is only an additional option for those who still have some games that are Windows only that they really want to play and likely already still have the Windows PC standing below their desk anyway.

The streaming is pretty much an interim solution to solve the hen-and-egg problem of getting enough games on a new console. Devs want to port games to a big platform to get many sales. But customers also prefer to buy system for which they have a wide selection of apps available.

There's no reason why Linux couldn't be a great gaming platform. The problem is how to get there. Valve will offer streaming so that people can get Steam Machines, play Linux native games when available - and fill gaps with windows-only games that they already have on their old Windows PC.

It might also be interesting to players who sometimes want to play at their desk (using mouse and keyboard) and sometimes in their living room. They already have a powerful gaming PC - and now can add a cheap-end-of-the-range Steam Machine to occasionally play on the couch.

The whole idea is to give everybody a lot of options.This is good for game devs because if otherwise there's only MS and Sony left and they keep closing up their platforms the bargaining power of the devs get reduced.It's good for gamers because competition means better prices and less restrictions.It's good for Valve because otherwise their whole Steam platform gets killed in a few years.

And al that without even going into some of the fundamental advantages of Linux when it comes to security and freedom.

If you are happy playing at your PC now, or if you you are a big fan of either XBox or PS then Steam Machines won't be of much interest to you.

Steam Machines might interest you if something like the following is true:You like playing on your couch in front of your TV (instead of at your desk) - or if your are concerned about the ever more restrictive conditions coming from MS and Sony (I pretty much assume that Nintendo is not surviving the current console war), then Steam Machines are an alternative.The streaming is only an additional option for those who still have some games that are Windows only that they really want to play and likely already still have the Windows PC standing below their desk anyway.

The streaming is pretty much an interim solution to solve the hen-and-egg problem of getting enough games on a new console. Devs want to port games to a big platform to get many sales. But customers also prefer to buy system for which they have a wide selection of apps available.

There's no reason why Linux couldn't be a great gaming platform. The problem is how to get there. Valve will offer streaming so that people can get Steam Machines, play Linux native games when available - and fill gaps with windows-only games that they already have on their old Windows PC.

It might also be interesting to players who sometimes want to play at their desk (using mouse and keyboard) and sometimes in their living room. They already have a powerful gaming PC - and now can add a cheap-end-of-the-range Steam Machine to occasionally play on the couch.

The whole idea is to give everybody a lot of options.This is good for game devs because if otherwise there's only MS and Sony left and they keep closing up their platforms the bargaining power of the devs get reduced.It's good for gamers because competition means better prices and less restrictions.It's good for Valve because otherwise their whole Steam platform gets killed in a few years.

And al that without even going into some of the fundamental advantages of Linux when it comes to security and freedom.

or maybe some day you can play game's like World of Warcraft, Dota2, CS, on your ipad from your Steam Box Streaming